History of Liberia | Page 6

by the
Act of Congress of March 2, 1807, no provision had been made for the
care of the unfortunates smuggled in in defiance of the Statute. They
became subject to the laws of the State in which they were landed; and
these laws were in some cases so devised that it was profitable for the
dealer to land his cargo and incur the penalty. The advertisements of
the sale of such a cargo of "recaptured Africans" by the State of
Georgia drew the attention of the Society and of Gen. Mercer in
particular to this inconsistent and abnormal state of affairs. His
profound indignation shows forth in the Second Annual Report of the
Society, in which the attention of the public is earnestly drawn to the
question; nor did he rest until a bill was introduced into the House of
Representatives designed to do away with the evil. This bill became a
law on March 3, 1819.
Provision was made for a more stringent suppression of the slave trade:
new cruisers were ordered and bounties awarded for captures; but the
clause which proved so important to the embryo colony was that
dealing with the captured cargoes:
"The President of the United States is hereby authorized to make such
regulations and arrangements as he may deem expedient for the
safe-keeping, support, and removal beyond the limits of the United
States, of all such negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color as may be so
delivered and brought within their jurisdiction; and to appoint a proper
person or persons residing upon the coast of Africa as agent or agents
for receiving the negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color, delivered from
on board vessels seized in the prosecution of the slave trade by
commanders of the United States armed vessels." The sum of $100,000
was appropriated for carrying out the provisions of the Act. President
Monroe determined to construe it as broadly as possible in aid of the
project of colonization. After giving Congress, in his message,

December 20, 1818, fair notice of his intention, no objection being
made, he proceeded to appoint two agents, the Rev. Samuel Bacon,
already in the service of the Colonization Society, and John P. Bankson
as assistant, and to charter the ship Elizabeth. The agents were
instructed to settle on the coast of Africa, with a tacit understanding
that the place should be that selected by the Colonization Society; they
were to provide accommodations sufficient for three hundred,
supplying provisions, clothing, tools, and implements. It is important to
note the essential part taken by the Government in the establishment of
the colony, for this is often said to be purely the result of private
enterprise; the inference tending to free the United States from any
responsibility for the protection of its feeble offspring. It is true
according to the letter, that the Government agency was separate from
the colony: the agents were instructed "to exercise no power founded
on the principle of colonization, or other principle than that of
performing benevolent offices;" and again, "you are not to connect your
agency with the views or plans of the Colonization Society, with which,
under the law, the Government of the United States has no concern,"
Yet as a matter of fact the agency and colony were practically identical;
and for years the resources of the Government were employed "to
colonize recaptured Africans, to build homes for them, to furnish them
with farming utensils, to pay instructors to teach them, to purchase
ships for their convenience, to build forts for their protection, to supply
them with arms and munitions of war, to enlist troops to guard them,
and to employ the army and navy in their defence,"[7] These words of
one unfriendly to the colony forcibly show the extent to which our
national government was responsible for the experiment.
When the Elizabeth was chartered the Society was notified that the
Government agency was prepared to transport their first colonists; or
more literally "agreed to receive on board such free blacks
recommended by the Society as might be required for the purpose of
the agency." For the expenses of the expedition $33,000 was placed in
the hands of Mr. Bacon. Dr. Samuel A. Crozier was appointed by the
Society as its agent and representative; and eighty-six negroes from
various states--thirty-three men, eighteen women, and the rest children,
were embarked. On the 6th of February, 1820, the Mayflower of
Liberia weighed anchor in New York harbor, and, convoyed by the U.S.

sloop-of-war Cyane, steered her course toward the shores of Africa.
The pilgrims were kindly treated by the authorities at Sierra Leone,
where they arrived on the ninth of March; but on proceeding to Sherbro
Island they found the natives had reconsidered their promise, and
refused to sell them land. While delayed by